Did SMC get better or did BYU get worse?
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Re: Did SMC get better or did BYU get worse?
I agree. Unless you are UConn's women's team, you are going to lose some games during the basketball season.BlueK wrote:the structure of college football is completely different and a lot of our fans I think look at basketball from that mindset.
Let's just say a football team is stuck with a lot of inexperienced, but talented players who mess up early in the season and lose a game or two you would think they shouldn't. With the way college football works, especially for an independent, not having everyone perfectly performing from the get-go = SEASON OVER! But then within that obviously you would also have fans who are going to realize it's a work in progress and good things can still happen in future seasons. But that is football.
What football-centric fans may not be thinking through is that in basketball that prospect of better things in the future can actually still happen in the same season. And that's where we are now. It's still too early to try to prove the case that the season is done and we all should be depressed. In football whether you're a pessimist or an optimist you're still stuck with the reality either way that the current season isn't really all that salvageable beyond just going to a minor bowl game.
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Re: Did SMC get better or did BYU get worse?
They beauty of college basketball is there is always a chance until knocked out of your conference tournament.
When it comes to at-large bids I am skeptical. Not only do we have a bad loss, we don't have any good wins. Who have we beaten? Unless we go on a huge win streak (only lose to Gonzaga at Gonzaga), I don't see us getting an at-large bid. We haven't shown the committee our "bad" loss was just a fluke. Beat SMC and Gonzaga and maybe those wins make up for the lackluster schedule.
This was the drawback of our out of conference schedule. It was a schedule that rewarded winning. Lose, and it doesn't do us any favors. Now, with a team returning only two starters an "easy" schedule made sense.
There is still hope. The team is gelling. If we want to be sure of a ticket to the dance, we'll need to win the conference tournament.
As far as expectations, I expected the team to have growing pains. I expected players to be plagued by mission legs. What I didn't expect was horrendous three point shooting and downright selfish play at times.
When it comes to at-large bids I am skeptical. Not only do we have a bad loss, we don't have any good wins. Who have we beaten? Unless we go on a huge win streak (only lose to Gonzaga at Gonzaga), I don't see us getting an at-large bid. We haven't shown the committee our "bad" loss was just a fluke. Beat SMC and Gonzaga and maybe those wins make up for the lackluster schedule.
This was the drawback of our out of conference schedule. It was a schedule that rewarded winning. Lose, and it doesn't do us any favors. Now, with a team returning only two starters an "easy" schedule made sense.
There is still hope. The team is gelling. If we want to be sure of a ticket to the dance, we'll need to win the conference tournament.
As far as expectations, I expected the team to have growing pains. I expected players to be plagued by mission legs. What I didn't expect was horrendous three point shooting and downright selfish play at times.
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Re: Did SMC get better or did BYU get worse?
2 ways to get into NCAA tournamentGunk wrote: There is still hope. The team is gelling. If we want to be sure of a ticket to the dance, we'll need to win the conference tournament.
1. win conference tournament. Have my doubts about this team getting through the conference tournament.
2.win WCC conference title. Not automatic, but when was the last time the WCC conference winner didn't get selected? Same with MWC. It's about as automatic as they come. BYU already needs help (SMC loss) but it's certainly within the realm of possibilities. But I honestly don't think it will happen this year.
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Re: Did SMC get better or did BYU get worse?
Here's my take. (and I'm hoping BYU can turn it around enough to change some of the following.McY wrote:I agree. Why choose to believe we are not in the NCAA at this point?frdbtr wrote:We are putting the cart before the horse here IMO. We are saying (after only playing a couple WCC games) that BYU will not make the NCAA tournament. I think they are going to make the tournament. I have seen improvement in BYU's play throughout this year and I even saw improvement in the St. Mary's game. The team is starting to come together, especially Haws (who IMO is the key to this team). If they keep improving like they have been, we will beat St Mary's at our place and maybe beat Gonzaga once. They still may or may not win the WCC tourney but if they lose in the finals, they will definitely be in the NCAA tourney. This with a bunch of Freshman and Sophomore starters with 2 of them straight off of missions. If Childs keeps improving like he has, BYU has a legit shot of beating Gonzaga and winning the WCC championship. How could anyone be disappointed with that. This team is not going to lose games in the WCC that it shouldn't which became an irritation the last couple of years.
- RPI wise BYU is outside looking in
- I don't see BYU beating the zags or the gaels (finish 3rd WCC) Therefore BYU won't have any resume boosting wins.
- BYU has no great wins
- BYU has a bad loss
- BYU won't win conference title. They likely won't be runner up.
- WCC won't get 3 bids
- BYU won't win conference tournament.
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Re: Did SMC get better or did BYU get worse?
I did say BYU COULD come out of non-conf play with 6-9. Didn't happen.BlueK wrote:Didn't you say between 6 and 9 pre-conference losses? We're into January and still don't have 6 losses total. It has taken a while for the guards to come around, but they're getting there. SMC is a tough team to beat at their place. For that matter, how often do top 20 teams in college basketball lose at home? Essentially never. There is still a lot of season left. I still think they'll do some good things this year. A healthy Bryant seems to be able to really help them based on the last game. We're 12-5 right now. Looking at the schedule, I think we'll be 18-5 by the end of January. If they take it one at a time and focus on the task at hand, I think we win the next 6 going into the Gonzaga game.BroncoBot wrote:added my thoughts to yours frdbtr. I agree with Gunk, byu has frequently been out coached since showing up to the WCC. we have the talent, but if things aren't going BYU'S WAY on offense, it all too often is a loss in the end. it's why I was down on this team back during the preseason and early season. I'm not arguing BYU has talent, but a bunch of top 100 players don't mean squat if they don't play as a team. and that's hard for any team to assemble with the amount of turnover BYU had the last year.frdbtr wrote:This team has potential to be very good, they just need time.... and better coaching
Childs was baptized less than a year ago. but I don't know if he has mission plans.
Did you think BYU has performed really well so far? They certainly didn't dominate, but didn't perform as poorly as they could have. whoopee!!!!
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Re: Did SMC get better or did BYU get worse?
No, I don't think BYU has knocked it out of the park so far. They are getting better.BroncoBot wrote:I did say BYU COULD come out of non-conf play with 6-9. Didn't happen.BlueK wrote:Didn't you say between 6 and 9 pre-conference losses? We're into January and still don't have 6 losses total. It has taken a while for the guards to come around, but they're getting there. SMC is a tough team to beat at their place. For that matter, how often do top 20 teams in college basketball lose at home? Essentially never. There is still a lot of season left. I still think they'll do some good things this year. A healthy Bryant seems to be able to really help them based on the last game. We're 12-5 right now. Looking at the schedule, I think we'll be 18-5 by the end of January. If they take it one at a time and focus on the task at hand, I think we win the next 6 going into the Gonzaga game.BroncoBot wrote:added my thoughts to yours frdbtr. I agree with Gunk, byu has frequently been out coached since showing up to the WCC. we have the talent, but if things aren't going BYU'S WAY on offense, it all too often is a loss in the end. it's why I was down on this team back during the preseason and early season. I'm not arguing BYU has talent, but a bunch of top 100 players don't mean squat if they don't play as a team. and that's hard for any team to assemble with the amount of turnover BYU had the last year.frdbtr wrote:This team has potential to be very good, they just need time.... and better coaching
Childs was baptized less than a year ago. but I don't know if he has mission plans.
Did you think BYU has performed really well so far? They certainly didn't dominate, but didn't perform as poorly as they could have. whoopee!!!!
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Re: Did SMC get better or did BYU get worse?
Agreed. Hoping they get hungry the rest of the season.BlueK wrote:No, I don't think BYU has knocked it out of the park so far. They are getting better.BroncoBot wrote:I did say BYU COULD come out of non-conf play with 6-9. Didn't happen.BlueK wrote:Didn't you say between 6 and 9 pre-conference losses? We're into January and still don't have 6 losses total. It has taken a while for the guards to come around, but they're getting there. SMC is a tough team to beat at their place. For that matter, how often do top 20 teams in college basketball lose at home? Essentially never. There is still a lot of season left. I still think they'll do some good things this year. A healthy Bryant seems to be able to really help them based on the last game. We're 12-5 right now. Looking at the schedule, I think we'll be 18-5 by the end of January. If they take it one at a time and focus on the task at hand, I think we win the next 6 going into the Gonzaga game.BroncoBot wrote:added my thoughts to yours frdbtr. I agree with Gunk, byu has frequently been out coached since showing up to the WCC. we have the talent, but if things aren't going BYU'S WAY on offense, it all too often is a loss in the end. it's why I was down on this team back during the preseason and early season. I'm not arguing BYU has talent, but a bunch of top 100 players don't mean squat if they don't play as a team. and that's hard for any team to assemble with the amount of turnover BYU had the last year.frdbtr wrote:This team has potential to be very good, they just need time.... and better coaching
Childs was baptized less than a year ago. but I don't know if he has mission plans.
Did you think BYU has performed really well so far? They certainly didn't dominate, but didn't perform as poorly as they could have. whoopee!!!!
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Re: Did SMC get better or did BYU get worse?
Well St. Mary's held Portland to 9 total points in the entire first half last night... so that helps answer the question of whether or not they got better. 9 points. WOW! Good job Gaels.
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Re: Did SMC get better or did BYU get worse?
That's pretty amazing.ABYUFAN wrote:Well St. Mary's held Portland to 9 total points in the entire first half last night... so that helps answer the question of whether or not they got better. 9 points. WOW! Good job Gaels.